TW: SA of a child ( I did not know that going into this book, there are no details concerning it).
The premise of this novel sounds very promising. When Nat and Will date in law school they jokingly discuss getting away with the perfect murder and back as a 3L Nat thinks she could do it. They seem to have it all, good jobs, a beautiful home, a son they both love and dote on, family trips to the beach on Sundays and yet? Despite everyone being hot lawyers with lots of money, they have drifted apart and neither of them seem quite interested in repairing or bridging the gap between them; instead it’s unspoken agreement to maintain the status quo. After their son is a victim of a crime (there’s a trigger warning here, it doesn’t get discussed in any detail other than the phrase “he was touched”, but the boy is molested) Nat becomes determined to see if she really can commit the perfect murder as she does not trust the legal system since she, herself is a criminal defense attorney who would attempt to attack a child’s credibility within seconds on the stand. At first, Nat tries to leave her husband out of it, but in the middle of her attempt she needs Will’s help and from there, things start spiraling out of control.
This book is dumb. First of all, I don’t think Nat could’ve planned the perfect murder if she actually tried. She makes so many blatant mistakes that I was assuming that there was a big twist in this story and the author was setting us up for “Ha! Fooled ya!” ( I won’t say if there is or there isn’t…but I would never invite her to help me plan a murder, ever). Secondly, Will and his “secret” is the most overt thing in the world. Nat girl, you knew. You had to have known…but whatever, we shouldn’t dwell on this book because I really think we’re supposed to think that killing a guy (a bad guy for sure!!) was something that helped repair their marriage to some extent. There is a mildly interesting story here about Nat not trusting the judicial system and how she sees victims of crime being treated and not wanting to subject her son to any of it because she does this to people every day. That story is handled with a chainsaw and a mallet instead of a thoughtful commentary, and make damn sure that you know that Nat has zero introspection about this. After reading the book, I shrugged and thought to myself, “there are no consequences in this book. NONE. Every adult pretty much gets away with everything they want and it appears that Nat and Will are working slightly on their marriage (read: barely, but since they are co-accomplices of murder AND Will offered to take the fall if they needed to go that route, something that Nat appreciates–just typing this makes me dislike this book even more). The epilogue leads us down a different path which tells me that Will won’t actually change, and it appears Nat has gotten a taste for vigilante justice. He’s not her next target, but perhaps down the line?